Manheim, Pennsylvania – Last week’s college wrestling schedule was anything but predictable. With 30 of the 71 duals featuring ranked teams, Division I college started settling into their dual meet schedules and it seemed no ranking, except maybe Iowa’s, was safe. Eleven different ranked teams got beat last week, creating another modest shake-up in the NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll on Tuesday.
Iowa (6-0) remained a unanimous No. 1 after shutting out Indiana and then-No. 18 Purdue by identical 41-0 scores. Penn State (5-1) sat numerous starters over the weekend, but still navigated past a pair of Big Ten opponents. The Nittany Lions topped Illinois 22-16 before beating then-No. 13 Northwestern 30-9. Penn State’s move up to No. 2 was aided by No. 8 Wisconsin’s 25-18 home win over Nebraska on Sunday. Nebraska slid seven spots, while Wisconsin stayed put at No. 8, mostly in part to the Badgers’ 20-14 loss at then-No. 15 Minnesota on Friday. The Gophers jumped up to No. 11 this week.
Virginia Tech (6-0) hammered West Virginia 36-3 over the weekend and the Hokies moved up to No. 3 in the poll, tied for the school’s highest ranking ever. The only other time Virginia Tech was ranked No. 3 was to close out the 2015-16 season.
The rest of the top 10 shakes out with Ohio State fourth, followed by NC State, Arizona State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, and Pittsburgh. It’s the sixth straight week the ACC has seen three of its teams ranked in the Top 10, which had never previously occurred prior to this season.
Ohio State beat then-No. 24 Rutgers 22-13, NC State beat then-No. 12 Princeton 29-12 and Arizona State swept a quad with Harvard, Campbell, and then-No. 11 Iowa State at Chase Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks in the first college wrestling dual to take place inside an MLB stadium. Oklahoma State won nine of ten bouts and beat Northern Colorado 36-3.
Most of the movement came from 11-25. Lehigh moved up two spots to No. 12 after beating No. 19 Cornell. Cornell did earn one victory, a 27-12 win over Ivy League foe Columbia. North Carolina also beat Princeton, sending the Tar Heels up four spots to No. 13. Purdue split a pair of weekend matches but moved up four spots primarily on the strength of their 21-13 win over then-No. 13 Northwestern.
Campbell re-entered the Top 25 at No. 21 after knocking off Iowa State at Chase Field over the weekend. It was the first of three unranked teams to beat ranked opponents over the weekend. The Camels are ranked for just the second time in school history and No. 21 is the highest in school history. As a result, Iowa State slid six spots to No. 16. Princeton’s 0-for-2 weekend in North Carolina dropped the Tigers to No. 17. Northern Iowa was also bitten by the upset bug as South Dakota State came into West Gym and beat the Panthers 25-13. UNI did beat Missouri, while Missouri beat Ohio. Rider won the Virginia Duals and re-entered the poll after a 20-12 win over No. 22 Virginia in Hampton.
Methodology: The NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll is voted on by two coaches from each Division I wrestling conference. Each first-place vote is worth 25 points, 24 points for a second-place vote, 23 for a third-place vote and so on through to one point for a 25th-place vote. The poll is based on dual meet results.
NWCA Division I Coaches Poll
January 14, 2020
Others Receiving Votes: Michigan 20, South Dakota State 19, Virginia 15, Oregon State 10, Illinois 7, Lock Haven 6, Central Michigan 3, Northern Illinois 1
Dropped Out: No. 22 Virginia, No. 25 Michigan